Sun, 13 Oct 2013

A gorgeous day in Chicago for the 37th annual Chicago Marathon. Today was
the seventh time I ran this race. I had sat out last fall, and ran a smaller local
race (well
enough for a BQ). But the
last
time I ran Chicago
I mused that maybe next time I'd train more. I tried, but it didn't quite
work with a minor injury dragging on a little. Just like in 2010.

And so it continues: it is my home course, and the course I have run the most
and know the best. Yet it is the one where I have the greatest difficulty
coming in with a time that is good enough for Boston. I knew that today
wasn't going to be that day, so I aimed lower to just run even splits (ie running about
equal halfs). But even that failed: After 1:44 for the first half I lost a
good ten minutes to finish at 3:40:42. Oh well. There is always next year...

But it was a simply sunningly fabulous day, and the race was once again very,
very well put together. We were worried about extra security: not a real
issue. The streets were lined with people and even Lisa and Julia managed to
cheer me on at mile 13 (still smiles), mile 19 (grimacing, about to fall
apart) and 25 (hanging in). And Anna was working the mile 18 water stop. The
worst where miles 20 to 22 when I walked a fair bit. The race results have
details; maybe I'll update the chart I made in prior years.

One minor FAIL was a wait at the end for gear check. That was pathetic. I
guess the folks manning the stand didn't keep bags sorted well enough so
lines were long, and slow. Oh well -- the rest was fine, and it remains one
of the nicest marathon races.

Oh, and the other FAIL was that my Nexus 4 phone couldn't hold a charge til I
was done. What's up with that? The running tracker traced me til around mile
20, and then the phone shut down for lack of juice. Disappointing too. But
hey, it spares you, dear reader, the look of some bad post-race selfies...